http://collegewebguy.com/2007/08/01/corporate-web-designer-retreats-into-academia-hilarity-ensues/ He’s employed at a university. He calls himself a web designer. These are his brain droppings. Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:39:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://collegewebguy.com/2007/08/01/corporate-web-designer-retreats-into-academia-hilarity-ensues/comment-page-1/#comment-695 University Web Template Hell, or Variation within Constraints Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:43:58 +0000 http://collegewebguy.com/2007/08/01/corporate-web-designer-retreats-into-academia-hilarity-ensues/#comment-695 [...] I posted something on this blog, a year or so ago about the goals we have for our “templates”: Awesome. This is the part where I use blockquote to quote my own self.  A new threshold of egotism has been reached. It’s been a goal since my first day on the job, but now it’s of even higher priority to reshape/refine/upgrade/expand and yes redesign some major design elements of our college website.The challenge of web design for universities, for me, is rooted in the conflict between flexibility and maintainability. Yes, you want all the pages, everyone’s page, or site, to look good, and to communicate. So the easy answer is to provide EVERYONE with the same look and feel, and identical framework to build on. But within a university are different organizations, different colleges, departments, administrative offices, etc.. many of which have their own marketing goals. They want the ability to differentiate. [...] [...] I posted something on this blog, a year or so ago about the goals we have for our “templates”: Awesome. This is the part where I use blockquote to quote my own self.  A new threshold of egotism has been reached. It’s been a goal since my first day on the job, but now it’s of even higher priority to reshape/refine/upgrade/expand and yes redesign some major design elements of our college website.The challenge of web design for universities, for me, is rooted in the conflict between flexibility and maintainability. Yes, you want all the pages, everyone’s page, or site, to look good, and to communicate. So the easy answer is to provide EVERYONE with the same look and feel, and identical framework to build on. But within a university are different organizations, different colleges, departments, administrative offices, etc.. many of which have their own marketing goals. They want the ability to differentiate. [...]

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